


In The Woods Somewhere

by ObscureReference



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Horror, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Monsters, Nobody is actually homophobic but the guys are afraid someone could be, Other, Paranormal, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-05
Updated: 2016-09-05
Packaged: 2018-08-13 03:09:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7960096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObscureReference/pseuds/ObscureReference
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“We’re in the middle of nowhere,” Nursey said, gesturing to the open air. “It’s like that story where the couple goes out to the woods for a date, and the boyfriend goes to investigate a noise and the girl finds him dead the next morning.” </p>
<p>There was also something about a hook on the car door in there somewhere, but it was also possible he was mixing up two different stories. The point still stood.</p>
<p>Dex shot him a look. “Are you suggesting we’re the boyfriends who die?”</p>
<p>Nursey shrugged.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In The Woods Somewhere

**Author's Note:**

> I started this last October but I didn't like that it relied on the use of characters not from the comic and I dropped it for a year. Then I mostly got over that part and the end result is here. I hope you like it.
> 
> I only did a read through of this once, so tell me if anything is off or doesn't make sense. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!

Chowder was warm and sleepy when he awoke to the sounds of arguing. He also had a pain in his neck. He figured it probably served him right for sleeping upright in the car.

“We don’t even have reception out here.”

That was Dex’s annoyed voice, and Chowder could hear him press the sleep mode button on his phone with a _click._

He sat up a little straighter. He couldn’t feel the engine or the motion of the car. They had stopped.

“You were the one who said we could go for longer,” Nursey pointed out. Chowder rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “What happened to that?”

“We _could_ have,” Dex grumbled. “Your car is the one that said we still have half a tank.”

“Apparently not.”

“That’s your car’s fault, not mine.”

“You’re the one driving.”

“It just stopped out of nowhere!”

Chowder blinked rapidly, finally completely waking himself up. He groaned quietly at joining the waking world, and Dex and Nursey turned in their seats to look at him, noticing for the first time that he was awake.

“Can we—” Chowder interrupted himself with a yawn. “—fix it?”

The inside of the car was dim, and it took him a moment to realize the only source of light was coming from the lock screen on Nursey’s phone. Chowder could barely make out the photo on the screen—a photo from several months ago when Nursey had taken a selfie while Chowder and Dex had kissed both of his cheeks—but the artificial light strained his eyes, so he looked away.

The headlights were off as well. The car itself was silent. If they had run out of gas, then they had _really_ run out of gas. Not even the dome lights inside the car were working.

“Doubt it,” Dex sighed. He waved his hand toward the hood. “It’s way too dark out here, and I don’t have any tools to fix anything, anyway. Assuming this is something I could fix in the first place.”

Chowder was relatively sure Dex could fix anything, but he let it slide.

“I told you we should have stopped for gas,” Nursey said.

Dex rolled his eyes.

“And I told _you_ that there weren’t any gas stations,” he replied. “There haven’t been any stops for miles.  And anyway, your car said we have half a tank. Either the meter is wrong or we stopped for another reason, so stopping for gas wouldn’t have helped in the first place.”

“What if we just walk?” Chowder suggested. He was still tired, but he was up now and there was no going back to sleep.

Road trips were usually great. Until stuff like this happened.

But that was life, and Chowder wasn’t going to whine about it. This would be a fun story to tell when he saw his parents again, probably.

Well. His parents would worry. Maybe he’d tell Bitty.

But then _Bitty_ might worry, he realized.

It would be a story to tell somebody sometime, at least.

“I haven’t seen any stores or other cars in forever,” Dex said. “I doubt we’re just going to stumble upon help in the dead of night.”

Nursey was already unbuckling his seatbelt. “It’s not like we’ll fix it by just sitting here. Let’s just walk until we find a gas station or something.”

“We’d probably sooner fall into a ditch,” Dex said, but he unbuckled his seatbelt as well. When Chowder followed in suit, Dex stopped, his hand resting on the door handle. “Chowder, you stay here.”

“What?” Chowder frowned. “Why?”

“Because you were already sleeping and someone needs to stay with the car in case someone drives by,” Dex said. “Nursey, you stay too.”

“Why?” Nursey said. His door was already open, and he had a foot planted on the ground. “I’m up, so let’s just go.”

“You were basically asleep,” Dex said. “And it’s my turn to drive. Stay here, get some rest, and I’ll go by myself.”

“You’ve been driving.” Nursey shook his head. “I’ll go.”

“I’m the one who has had the most sleep,” Chowder chimed in, even though that was partially a lie. He was still pretty tired. “So I’ll—“

“Stay,” Nursey and Dex said at the same time. They looked at each other.

Dex relented first. He rolled his eyes.

“If you want to go on a hike in the dead of night, I won’t stop you,” he said. He tossed Chowder the car keys. “If someone drives by, see if you can get some help.”

He stepped out of the car and closed the door. Nursey twisted in his seat to look Chowder in the eye.

“We’ll find a tow truck or something,” Nursey told him. “We’ll be back before you know it.”

Chowder had gotten up extra early that morning so he could take first shift, sliding behind the wheel before the sun was up, and he had only managed to fall asleep for the first time that day in what only felt like a short while ago. Walking around to find cell service or some kind of auto shop wasn’t his idea of a good time—especially not when he could have been sleeping—but he didn’t want to be coddled.

“Guys, seriously, I can—“

Chowder cut himself off with a yawn again, and Nursey looked at him fondly.

“Get some rest, C,” he said. “We’ll be right back.”

Nursey climbed out and shut the door behind him. Chowder leaned his forehead against the cool window and watched them walk up the road. The night was all encompassing, and he had a hard time distinguishing the thick tree trucks around them from the open air. The only indicator anything was there were the shadows that were slightly darker than the air around them. There was zero light pollution over the tree tops. Dex hadn’t been lying when he said he hadn’t seen any stores for a while. Chowder doubted there were any towns for at least a few miles.

He felt a little uneasy about the whole situation, but exhaustion won out in the end. In this stillness, he was sure he’d wake up if any cars passed by. He propped himself against the door and closed his eyes.

 

 

 

 

“Stay close by me,” Dex said, and Nursey didn’t bother to suppress his grin.

“Are you scared?” he teased. He brushed his fingers over the back of Dex’s hand to let Dex know he wasn’t serious. Dex’s own fingers twitched like he wanted to grab Nursey’s hand but stopped himself.

“No, but knowing you, you’ll end up falling into a ditch,” Dex said, eyeing the road. “Try not to trip.”

It _was_ awfully dark, Nursey had to admit. They had only walked a dozen or so yards away from the car, but he still had to squint to make out the outline of his silver Malibou. The night seemed to suck the color from the world, and everything looked darker, harder to see, in comparison. It was oddly cool for a summer night too. Not cold. But cooler than he would have expected.

Nursey’s phone was nearly dead, but Dex’s still had some battery left. He had been charging it in the car before it had broken down. Neither of them had their flashlights pulled out though. The road was fairly straightforward, and Dex had wanted to save his charge for when they had service again. Nursey had agreed.

“Should we have let Chowder come with us?” Nursey asked after a few minutes of walking in silence, the crisp crunch of the leaves under their feet the only sound for what seemed like miles.

“Why?” Dex said. “We slept in the car earlier, and he didn’t. He deserves to sleep now while he has the chance.”

“Yeah,” Nursey agreed. “But isn’t it dangerous?”

“How?”

“We’re in the middle of nowhere,” Nursey said, gesturing to the open air. “It’s like that story where the couple goes out to the woods for a date, and the boyfriend goes to investigate a noise and the girl finds him dead the next morning.”

There was also something about a hook on the car door in there somewhere, but it was also possible he was mixing up two different stories. The point still stood.

Dex shot him a look. “Are you suggesting we’re the boyfriends who die?”

Nursey shrugged.

“I’m just saying, walking around the woods in the middle of the night isn’t my idea of a safe trip.”

“You’re the one who insisted you come with me,” Dex said, but there was no heat to it. His earlier frustration had drained away over the course of their walk. “You could have stayed in the car.”

Nursey raised an eyebrow. “And leave you alone? That’s just asking for trouble.”

Dex made a noise of acknowledgement but didn’t comment. The conversation died out for a moment.

Suddenly, Dex asked, “Do you hear that?”

Nursey tried to listen, but he couldn’t hear anything. “What?”

“It sounds like…” Dex deliberately paused. “It sounds like a _chicken_.”

Dex caught Nusey’s gaze and held it. After a beat passed, his face broke out into a smile, and Nursey scoffed. Dex stumbled but quickly righted himself when Nursey shoved his shoulder playfully.

“Thanks, babe,” Nursey said.

Dex’s arm brushed his reassuringly. “You have to admit you’re being a little ridiculous.”

“Whatever,” Nursey said, easy going. “I’ll be the chicken. I’m just saying, we should try to find somebody sooner rather than later.”

“Duh.” Dex rolled his eyes good naturedly. “That’s what we’re doing.”

 

 

 

 

When Chowder woke up, everything felt wrong.

Nothing inside the car had changed. Through the window, the road seemed just as empty and abyss-like as before. Nobody stood menacingly outside the car with an axe. For all intents and purposes, everything looked normal.

But it didn’t _feel_ normal, and when Chowder woke, it was with his heart leaping into his chest, beating wildly. He felt his hair stand on end even before he even opened his eyes. The air itself felt _wrong._ He felt hunted. Chowder held his breath.

Outside the car, nothing stirred.

A minute passed. Then two. It occurred to him that he had no idea how long Nursey and Dex had been gone. He wished he had gone with them.

The feeling of being watched worsened. Part of Chowder wanted to hide under the seats and not come out until daybreak. The rest of him said that was a horrible idea.

Suddenly, Chowder thought, it seemed like a really good idea not be stuck in the car.

So he got out.

Dex probably would have told him that was a stupid idea, and Nursey probably would have said there was nothing to be afraid of. But Chowder couldn’t contain the sudden lightning strike of fear that shot down his spine, and sitting in the car felt too much like being a sitting duck. Getting out seemed like the best idea.

He’d just walk in the same direction as Nursey and Dex had, Chowder reasoned. He would catch up to them eventually, or he’d pass them on their way back. Or he’d call them when he found cell service again.

Any way it went, he didn’t plan on sitting here.

He started down the road.

Then he broke into a jog and didn’t stop until the feeling of being watched subsided.

It was a long run.

 

 

 

 

Nursey had halfway expected to walk until morning, but they found civilization sooner than expected.

The road continued on forever, but the trees began to become sparse after a while. Not far from where the trees stopped altogether, giving way to open land, Nursey spotted a building.

It looked like a regular gas station, if a little old. The convenience store part of the gas station was dark and clearly closed. All the outside lamps were on, though, and there was a mechanic’s garage attached to the side of the gas station. One of the garage doors was open, and the lights were on inside as well. Nursey took that as a good sign.

“Come on,” he said. They passed a tow truck on the way in. He took that as an even better sign.

Nursey and Dex stepped into a fairly clean auto shop. There was a small car with the hood propped open already sitting in the garage, though nobody else was in sight. Spare tires hung on the far wall. A few different tools lay scattered about on various tables around the shop. There was a locket on one of the tables near the door, and it was opened to reveal the picture of a young woman inside.

Nursey studied the locket for a moment before looking around. There was still nobody else around.

“Hello?” he called out. Dex jumped and opened his mouth, but Nursey cut him off with, “How else are we going to find anybody?”

Dex closed his mouth.

“Somebody out there?” a deep voice asked from the bowels of the shop. “Do you know how late it is?”

Pretty late, but it wasn’t like they had much of a choice.

“Your lights were on,” Nursey said, still speaking loudly. He wasn’t sure where the voice was coming from. “And our car broke down a little ways back, so we figured you could help.”

A door in the far back of the shop swung open, and out stepped a mechanic, wiping his grease stained hands on an old rag.

The mechanic was a tall man with a grim, wrinkled face, though his eyes was overshadowed by the brim of his hat. The text on the hat said _Ray’s_ in faded, yellow thread. It was probably a brand name.

Nursey placed him in his late fifties, but he somehow looked prematurely aged as well. His fingers were calloused, no doubt from long hours spent working under the hood of a car, and he looked at Dex and Nursey with suspicion. The nametag on his jumpsuit said “Ray.” Nursey guessed he owned the place.

“Broke down where?” Ray asked.

Nursey gestured in the direction the trees. “Farther down the road that way.”

Ray fixed him with a hard look.

“In the woods?” he asked, but he sounded like he already knew the answer.

“I guess,” Nursey said. He hadn’t thought about it at the time, but it was possible the road was paved through the woods. He had initially assumed they were just a bundle of trees planted on either side of the road for aesthetic purposes, but then again, it was hard to tell at night.

Ray shook his head solemnly.

“You don’t want to go out there at night,” he said, vaguely. “Bad things happen in those woods.”

It sounded somewhat like a threat, or at least a line from a horror movie. Nursey didn’t let himself be deterred.

“Actually, a friend of ours is out there right now,” he said. “He’s waiting on us to come back with help, so if you’re closed, we’ll be happy to call someplace else.”

Nursey actually would not have been happy to do that, but he hoped that mentioning Chowder would make Ray feel at least a little guilty about leaving them stuck.

“We could really use the help,” Dex added.

“I don’t normally go into those woods,” Ray rasped. “ _Especially_ at night.”

There was a heavy pause, and Nursey wasn’t entirely sure what to say. Eventually he settled on, “Please.”

Ray looked between them. He took a long breath and sighed for what felt like several seconds longer than normal. Nursey could feel the heat from Dex’s body by his side.

“I’ll get the truck ready,” Ray finally said, and Nursey mentally cheered.

“Thank you,” he said, and he meant it. “We appreciate it.”

Ray walked past them and out the garage.

"We'll be with you in two seconds," Dex assured him. Ray shrugged and went to start up the tow truck. On his way out, he picked the locket up off the table and slid the chain around his neck, snapping the locket shut.

The moment he was out of sight, Dex leaned over to Nursey and whispered, "This guy looks like a fucking murderer."

“Now _you’re_ being ridiculous,” Nursey said.

Dex looked at him.

"Okay, he kind of does," Nursey agreed. "But he's probably just a regular dude who is going to help us out."

"We have service now," Dex said, pulling out his phone. "We could just call some other tow truck company and get help from someone who doesn't look like they would take advantage of this perfect chance to murder a couple of college kids in the woods.”

Nursey shook his head. "There's no way anybody else is open right now. And even if they were, it would probably take them like another hour to get here. We’re in the middle of nowhere."

He shot Dex a pointed look. Dex crossed his arms.

“Plus he didn’t even want to drive out there,” Nursey said. “I’m sure he wants this done with as soon as possible.”

A beat passed.

"Fine," Dex relented. "But I'm not sitting next to him."

If that was what it took. Nursey tried not to wince too obviously.

Ray didn’t bother locking up before they left, which meant he was the kind of guy who didn’t care about thieves or that they were so far away from civilization that locking up didn’t matter. True to his word, Dex sat in the back. It was a tight squeeze.

Dex was too worried, Nursey thought as he climbed through the passenger side door. He got too worked up about everything. This was fine. It would work out.

The gas station lights were quickly just a distant speck in the side mirrors, and Ray didn’t say anything as they pulled down the road. He held the steering wheel tightly, his shoulders tense. He didn’t make any comments or turn on the radio as they drove. Dex caught Nursey’s eye in the rearview mirror and made a face.

Rather than sit in awkward silence for the remainder of their journey, Nursey thought a conversation might ease the tension.

"Your locket is very nice," he said, gesturing to said locket. "I couldn't help but notice the picture earlier. Is that your wife—"

"My wife died years ago," Ray interrupted, his eyes firmly set on the road.

"I'm really sorry to hear that," Nursey said, as casually as he could while internally shrieking. Dex caught his eye in the mirror again and shook his head.

Nobody said anything for several seconds, and eventually those seconds stretched into minutes. Nursey resigned himself to one of the most awkward car rides of his life. He didn't think he could come back from the whole “dead wife” thing.

He figured that Chowder, despite the lack of company and cell service, was having a much better time.

They drove on.

 

 

 

 

Chowder had only just slowed to a reasonable walking pace when he heard the voice.

"Hey."

Chowder nearly jumped out of his skin at the greeting, but when he looked down, he saw it was just a regular woman sitting against the root of a tree and not some horrible serial killer like he'd expected. Which, while still weird, was much more pleasant.

Her bright yellow sundress was easy to spot in darkness, but for some reason he had a hard time telling exactly where the night air stopped and her skin began. Her edges were a little fuzzy. He blamed the thick clouds for shrouding the moon and his exhaustion for making it so hard to see.

"Are you okay?" Chowder asked immediately. The girl blinked back at him owlishly before rising to her feet. The top of her head barely reached his chin.

"Am _I_ okay?" she repeated, grinning. "You're running around the woods in the middle of the night and you're asking about me?"

That was kind of true. But still.

"Our car broke down," Chowder said, pointing into the nothing behind him. "We can't get cell service out here, so I was waiting for a car to pass by while my—friends went to go get help and then—“ He paused. “Well."

"Did you get scared?" the girl asked. "Being stuck in the car by yourself, I mean."

"Maybe a little," Chowder admitted. Suddenly the night seemed so calm, so peaceful. He felt silly for running. He couldn't imagine what he'd been so nervous about before. It had probably just been because he’d been alone, though he’d never been afraid of the dark before.

He scratched the back of his neck. "I thought—I don’t know, that things were weird, so I wanted to catch up to my boyfriends. I guess that's kind of silly now."

He realized too late that he'd already let the word 'boyfriends' slip from his mouth, but instead of making a snide comment, the girl just smiled wider. She looked kind of sad, Chowder thought, though he couldn't really place why.

"That's not silly at all," she said. "You said they went up the road, right? That's where my dad's gas station is. I'll take you there. He'll definitely help."

She had already started walking before she had even finished her sentence, and Chowder jogged the first few steps in order to catch up to her.

"Thanks!"

She angled her face towards him. Her hair fell to her shoulders in ringlets. "No problem."

"I'm Chris, by the way," he said once they were walking side by side. She walked a little briskly for a woman her size, but Chowder's longer legs made up for the distance.

"I'm Kiera," she said warmly, despite the quickness of her steps. It didn’t feel like she was trying to ditch him. Maybe she was just a fast walker.

Chowder glanced down the road. It had not gotten any brighter and the trees had not become any easier to distinguish from the asphalt. Considering how dark it was, a gas station could have been fifty yards away with the lights off, and Chowder probably wouldn't have noticed. He certainly hadn't noticed Kiera sitting two feet away until she said something. He wondered how far ahead Nursey and Dex had gotten.

"How come you're out here so late?" Chowder asked, eyeing the tree line. Nothing stirred.

"I was taking a walk."

He glanced down at Kiera's flats. "I thought dress shoes were uncomfortable for long walks?"

Kiera flashed him a white smile, fluttering her lashes at him.

"What?" she said, leaning closer. "You don't think taking a walk down a deserted road in your best Sunday dress is romantic?"

Chowder's tongue grew heavy. "Uh."

Kiera snorted and pulled away.

"I'm _joking_ ," she relented, laughing. "I am taking a walk for real, though. These are just the only clothes I had to wear."

"Oh," Chowder said.

"Plus, I love to wander the roads at night and help out frightened people with their broken cars."

Kiera winked at him. Chowder didn't think she was flirting, but he got the feeling there was some joke he was missing out on.

"But enough about me," Kiera said. "Tell me about you."

"Me?" Chowder repeated. "Okay, uh." He tried to remember some of the things he’d said during his Freshman Getting-To-Know-People class. "I'm going to Samwell University in Massachusetts, but I live in San Francisco. I have a sister. I'm a goalie for my school's hockey team and—"

"And you have more than one boyfriend," Kiera finished.

Chowder coughed. He stumbled over a rock in the darkness, then righted himself. He had been kind of hoping Kiera had missed that part earlier.

"How many?" she asked.

Chowder cleared his throat nervously. You could never tell how people would react to that kind of information. They weren’t in Samwell anymore. "Two."

" _Two_ ," Kiera marveled. "You didn't tell me you were some kind of stud. If I could have gotten two boyfriends, I would have done that forever ago."

"I mean— It's not like—"

He was tripping over his own tongue. This was not how he had expected the conversation to go.

"Tell me about them," Kiera said.

Chowder looked at her. In the darkness, the fine details of her face appeared indistinct, but what parts of her Chowder could see looked honest. Not mean in any way. He felt some of the tension bleed out of his shoulders.

"Their names are Dex and Nursey," Chowder said. "Oh, those are nicknames. Really their names are William and Derek. But we've been calling each other our hockey nicknames for so long that it feels kind of weird not to, you know?"

"What's your nickname?"

"Chowder!"

Kiera laughed, giddy. "You know, somehow I think it fits. I like it."

“Thanks. I like your name too!”

She giggled, and Chowder felt confident for the first time since waking up. It was going to be a good day.

“Tell me about your life,” Kiera said.

So Chowder did.

He told her about his past year at Samwell and how it was now break. He told her about his, Dex’s and Nursey’s decision to road trip this summer and how that had been going pretty smoothly until tonight. He told her about the herd of deer he’d been lucky enough to see by the side of the road a few days ago and how Nursey had been in awe. He told her how Dex had worked eight million jobs in his life and how a little bit of knowledge had gone a long way in the past week.

In return, she told him a little about her dad and that her family had been living in the area for generations.

“That’s amazing,” Chowder said, because he couldn’t imagine that.

“Yeah,” Kiera agreed, a little melancholy. “But now it’s just me and my dad.”

They had quickly changed the subject to how cool sharks, both the team and the animal, were after that.

“You know, it’s a good thing I found you,” Kiera said after a few minutes of pleasant conversation had passed. “There are dangerous animals around here sometimes, and I would hate for anybody to get hurt.”

“Animals?” Chowder repeated. “Like wolves?”

Chowder didn’t know a lot about wolves besides the fact none lived in California. They were always really scary in movies, but he thought he remembered a few animal rights groups on campus saying wolves rarely ever attacked people. But maybe that hadn’t been true. Or he was remembering wrong.

Kiera hummed, and Chowder took that as a yes.

If it was so dangerous at night then—

“Why were you out here by yourself?” Chowder asked.

Kiera blinked. “I told you. I like midnight strolls.”

“No, like, _alone_ ,” he corrected. “If it’s that dangerous.”

He was considerably taller and probably stronger than her, but she had still looked at him like he was something vulnerable when she had mentioned getting hurt. There was no reason she shouldn’t have been concerned for herself.

“Oh, I’m used to it now,” Kiera said, waving him off. “I’ve been here for a long time, so I know what to do. Actually— _get down_.”

Her last words were said in a hushed, commanding tone, and that was all the warning Chowder got before she was jerking him off the road and into the bushes. She pulled him to the damp ground with more strength than he expected, and for a moment he wondered if she played volleyball like Farmer because _damn._

“Shh,” Kiera said. She put a finger to her lips.

Chowder had no idea what was happening, but he didn’t question it. There was a twig poking him in the cheek. He kept quiet.

That was when he heard it.

At first the sound was low, far off. But as he laid in the grass he realized it was coming closer—a deep, guttural noise that sounded like a cross between a growl and a hiss. It crept closer, growing louder until Chowder thought he could feel the vibrations of it directly under his skin. He hated it.

Next to him, Kiera sucked in a breath. She put her hand on the back of his head and pressed him closer to the ground. Even the moist dirt felt warmer than the chill that had suddenly settled in the air.

Suddenly, he could have sworn the creature was growling directly into his ear.

_Shit_ , he thought. There wasn’t time for any other thoughts, as much as he wanted to have them. There was no time to jump up, to move, to _do_ something. There was only the snarl in his ear and Kiera’s cool hand on his head.

Abruptly, there was a flash of light that left Chowder dizzy. It swept across his vision so fast that he had to blink until the spots cleared.

A car had passed, he realized. The light must have been a car. And here he was lying in the bushes about to get eaten when he could have been smart and stayed put like he was told.

Except he wasn’t about to be eaten at all. When he could see again, he realized the creature— _wolf, of course, duh_ —was gone. The growling had stopped. He could no longer feel the hulking mass of a wild animal standing above him, eager to strike.

It had probably been distracted or scared off by the light, Chowder reasoned. Animals were usually afraid of cars. Or if they weren’t, he was glad this one was.

Kiera sat up, so Chowder figured it was safe to do the same. It felt considerably easier to breathe than it had a moment ago. The oppressive blanket of despair that he hadn’t even realized had settled over him had now lifted.

“We need to get out of here,” Kiera said so low he had to strain the hear her. “Follow me.”

She stood and began picking her way through the sticks and brambles, deeper into the woods. She was leaving the road. Chowder reached out to grab her arm and missed.

“But the road—”

“Shortcut,” Kiera said curtly. “This way.”

She went deeper into the trees, harried and checking over her shoulder to make sure Chowder followed. He did.

She picked up the pace.

 

 

 

 

“So is there a reason you don’t tend to drive out here at night?” Nursey asked when the strained silence had become nigh unbearable. They had been driving for several minutes, and he hoped they were close to Chowder because he didn’t think he could take much more.

Dex rolled his eyes from the back seat. Nursey ignored him.

He didn’t think Ray was actually going to answer until he did.

“Someone I know was mauled out here,” Ray said, voice thick. “The police said it was an animal attack.”

He did not say “I know it wasn’t,” but he might as well have.

He also did not say what had happened to the person who had been attacked. Nursey didn’t ask. He wondered if there were any possible topic they could discuss that didn’t immediately jump to something horrid and awful. It seemed unlikely.

“I’m really sorry to hear that,” Nursey said, feeling like a broken doll for repeating the same sentiments as earlier. He continued, “I’m sure it was just a freak accident, though.”

Ray grunted. Nursey shut up.

The car began to slow.

“Is this your car?” Ray asked.

Nursey peered out the windshield and saw they had arrived, the silver paint of his car reflecting back at them in the dim headlights.

“That’s ours,” he agreed, as though there could possibly be anyone else unlucky enough to be stopped on this stretch of road in the dead of night. Ray slowed down. He began to turn the car around without allowing any of them to step out first.

To hook the front of Nursey’s car onto the back of the truck with less of a hassle, Nursey guessed. It would be harder to turn around once his car was already being towed. He winced at the thought of using the chain. There would be scratches for sure.

Dex looked out the window.

“I don’t see Chowder,” he muttered, frowning. It was the first time he’d spoken since they had gotten in the truck. He leaned forward in his seat, straining the seatbelt. His face was close to Nursey’s shoulder.

“He’s probably laying down,” Nursey assured him. It was dark, and the angle made it difficult to see into the car anyway. He was sure that Chowder was just out of sight.

Ray, having successfully turned the truck around with little to no light, backed up the truck until it was nearly touching the bumper of Nursey’s car. He shut off the engine.

The back seat where Dex sat was cramped and a person had to crawl over the front seats to reach them, so Nursey had to step out first. Dex climbed out right after them. He strode past Nursey to look through the car windows while Ray set up the tow truck. Nursey slowly followed.

“I told you,” Nursey said as Dex pressed his face against the glass.

Dex shot him a look. “No, he’s not.”

“What?”

“He’s not here.” Dex opened the front passenger door. “And he didn’t lock it.”

“So? It wouldn’t be the first time Chowder forgot.”

Truthfully, Nursey couldn’t remember if that was true. He was mostly trying to reassure himself.

“No, _you_ always forget,” Dex said, and there was no humor in his voice.

A beat passed where neither of them spoke, only the rattling of the chains and Ray’s work to fill the void.

Nursey considered the reasons Chowder would leave the car unattended and without some kind of note. He didn’t like most of them.

“He could be taking a piss?” he offered.

Dex looked at him, clearly unappreciative of the suggestion. Nursey kept silent.

Ray sighed loud enough to catch their attention. Nursey had no idea how closely he had been listening to their conversation. It was easy, sometimes, to get caught up in talking to Dex and to forget other people.

“Your car needs to be in neutral before we can take it,” Ray said.

Dex stuck his head through the car door. “It’s already in neutral.”

Nursey winced.

“Nurse, what the hell? You didn’t even put it in park?”

“It’s fine,” Nursey assured him. “We’re not even on a hill.”

Dex stood up straight and shut the car door with a slam.

“ _Derek,”_ he stressed. “Our—“ He glanced at Ray. “ _Chowder_ is missing, the car doesn’t work, we’re in the middle of nowhere, and you’re acting like this is a joke. Could you possibly take this seriously for two seconds?”

Nursey pretended that comment didn’t hurt as much as it did.

“I _am_ taking this seriously,” he said. “You think I’m not worried? _I am_. But freaking out isn’t going to help anything.”

“I’m not freaking out!”

Nursey opened his mouth to retort with something that was definitely not childish at all when Ray interrupted him.

“If you boys are done,” he said. “We should be moving along.”

“What,” Nursey said at the same time Dex cried, “We can’t leave yet!”

Ray didn’t seem to be paying much attention to them. Nursey was too busy watching Dex for a reaction to see exactly what he’d done, but the front of the car began to lift off the ground, held taught by the chains underneath. The sound of it felt too loud for the still night. Nursey’s skin itched.

“We can’t leave yet,” Dex repeated in a more even tone, stepping forward. That was his “mature” tone. Nursey had heard him use it before, usually when talking to professors and people’s moms. “Our friend wasn’t here like we thought he would be, so we need to—“

“You aren’t finding anyone at this time of night,” Ray said firmly. “And certainly not here.”

It was unrealistic to just go stomping through the grass looking for Chowder, Nursey agreed. But it was equally unrealistic to think they were just going to leave.

Nursey cupped his hands around his mouth. “Hey, C! You out here? Chris!”

He almost expected his voice to echo like it would in a cave, but it didn’t. His hands fell to his side. No response.

Dex’s frown deepened.

Ray watched them with an unyielding expression. He didn’t look smug at their lack of response. His face was set in a firm grimace. Nursey did not think he could make any other expression.

“Maybe he got antsy and tried to follow us,” Nursey suggested. He didn’t sound confident, but he didn’t feel confident either, so it fit.

Dex shook his head. “Then why didn’t we pass him on the way back?”

Nursey didn’t have anything to say to that. He checked his phone. No cell service. Again.

“You don’t get any bars out here,” Ray said when he saw Nursey looking. “It’s a dead zone.”

He literally could not have picked worse phrasing. Nursey fought the urge to glare. He tried to reel in his nerves.

He was tired. Dex was tired. Ray was probably tired. They were _all_ tired and anxious, and the area was creepy enough to set anybody on edge. It was a frustrating situation. Getting worked up so soon didn’t help anybody.

Ray checked the chains and adjusted some things. Nursey wished he was more familiar with cars.

“I don’t want to leave you boys out here,” Ray said when he was done. “So let’s get back in my truck and—”

“We haven’t even looked,” Dex said. “We haven’t even _tried_ to look. Give us five minutes, and if we don’t find Chowder, then fine. We’ll go back with you and call him when we have service. He might be just off the path.”

Ray had clearly grown agitated. But he also hadn’t immediately shot them done, so Nursey took that as a good sign. It was the suggestion that they had a friend waiting for them that had swayed Ray to agree to help in the first place. Nursey didn’t think he was the kind of guy who was eager to leave people behind.

“Listen,” Ray said, crossing his arms. “I don’t like this place, and I don’t want to be here any longer than necessary. I don’t much like the idea of leaving your friend behind either. But I have lost—”

Ray suddenly stopped himself. His mouth shut with an audible _click,_ and his jaw clenched. He held his hand up to keep to keep Nursey and Dex quiet, like he was listening to something.

“Get in the truck,” he said quietly.

“What?” Dex said. Then, “No.”

“ _Get_ ,” Ray said again, his voice steely and not to be argued with. “In the truck.”

Suddenly Nursey heard it too. A low growling. It sounded strangled, choked. Menacing. It set his hair on end. Whatever was making that noise was nothing to mess with. And it sounded big, even though Nursey couldn’t pinpoint exactly where it was coming from.

Slowly, he reached out and grabbed the edge of Dex’s sleeve. Dex’s look told him he was hearing the same thing.

“We should get in the truck,” Nursey whispered.

 

 

 

 

Chowder had been following Kiera for what felt like forever when they suddenly emerged from the trees.

He had to blink to clear his vision as they did. It was like a veil had been lifted. He hadn’t realized how difficult it had been to see until there were real lights in the distance, warding off the shadows that had grown so large.

“That’s my dad’s place,” Kiera said, standing a few feet ahead of him. “If you go there, my dad will help you out.”

It sounded like a good plan, but there was still a ball of worry in his chest. He had been too busy trying to keep up with her to ask before.

“What about Dex and Nursey?” he asked.

The last thing he wanted to do was go back into the woods, but if they were still out there, there was no way he was just going to sit around. Not with wolves or whatever running around.

“They would have made it out all ready,” Kiera said, though she had no way of knowing that for sure. “They’re probably with my dad. So you should go to the shop and wait.”

She gestured to what appeared to be a gas station in the distance. Chowder didn’t budge.

Kiera chewed on the inside of her cheek. “Okay, how about this? You go to the shop and see if anybody is there. If not, wait for my dad or someone else to show up. I’ll go back and see if your boyfriends are still walking around, and if they are, I’ll keep them safe. Sound good?”

Chowder liked the part where they checked all their bases and made sure everyone was okay. He did not like the idea of sending Kiera back out there with a mon— _wolf_ walking around.

“I’ll come with you,” he said, even as Kiera was shaking her head. “You shouldn’t go out alone.”

“Trust me,” she said firmly. “I’ve been out here way longer than you have. I know what I’m doing.”

True enough. If Kiera was the type of person to stroll around the woods in the middle of the night, she had obviously been getting along just fine before he showed up. He wasn’t eager to leave her alone, but he remembered the way he had struggled to keep up while he had followed her through the trees. She had always been several feet ahead of him, no matter how quickly he had tried to move. She knew the path way better than him. Plus, she had known the wolf was there way before he had. He would only slow her down.

“Okay,” Chowder said slowly. “But if you think you’re in trouble, come back and we’ll call the police or something, okay?” Or animal control. Whatever got them out of here the quickest.

“Deal,” Kiera said, smiling. She walked back towards the trees and patted his shoulder as she passed. “Now go to the shop. And say hi to my dad for me.”

She vanished in an instant, swallowed by the foliage. Chowder began to cross the field.

 

 

 

 

Ray took two quick steps back and opened the driver’s seat door. He swiftly got inside. Dex and Nursey hurried after him.

Nursey thought climbing into the back seat would take too long, and apparently Dex agreed because he squeezed into the tiny seat in between Ray and the passenger seat instead. It was a tight fit when they were all broad shouldered and over six feet tall, but they managed. Ray, Dex, and Nursey, all sitting in a cramped row.

The door had barely closed behind Nursey when he felt something _slam_ into the side of the truck. The entire truck rocked like it had been rammed by an elephant, or perhaps another car. Nursey swore the wheels rose at least two inches off the ground before settling down again. He grabbed the “oh, shit” handle on the ceiling and braced himself.

Ray grit his teeth and swore.

“What the _fuck_ was that?” Dex shouted. His eyes were wide. Nursey was sure he looked the same.

The window next to Nursey’s shoulder had cracked from the impact. It looked like a thousand spider webs suddenly ran through the splintered glass. Nursey felt like even a tap would cause the glass the shatter entirely. The view outside the window was fractured and hazy.

The front windshield, somehow, was untouched, but it didn’t offer any answers either. The road was dark but empty.

Nursey hadn’t heard the growling stop, but he certainly knew when it started again. He could feel it in his _teeth_. He swore his bones were vibrating from the sound.

Ray tore one hand away from the steering wheel and gripped his locket with his free hand. His lips were moving, but his words were too quiet for Nursey to hear.

The growling faded slightly, like a whatever was making the noise had decided to step away. Nursey almost felt relieved.

Then the snarls began to get louder, closer, like whatever was out there planned on ramming the car again. Nursey didn’t have to look to know the door couldn’t take another hit like that. He was sure the window would buckle under a direct hit.

He thought of the glass that would go flying once the windows broke and pressed his lips together tightly. He blindly reached for Dex’s hand and found it.

“Shit,” Dex hissed. Nursey agreed.

The growling grew louder, like it was right outside the door. Nursey’s insides churned dangerously. He shut his eyes.

Abruptly, there was a light.

Nursey’s eyes were still closed, but the light shone so strongly that it penetrated his eyelids. For a moment he thought it was a passing car, but either the standard brightness for headlights had become dazzling or it wasn’t a car at all. He tried to open his eyes only to immediately shut them again. It didn’t hurt, exactly, but there was no way he could look at it directly. It was too bright outside. Brighter than any daylight he’d ever seen.

He squeezed Dex’s hand. Dex squeezed back.

The light stopped.

It didn’t slowly fade like the setting sun or peter out like a firefly in summer. It was like a switch. One moment the light was there, and the next Nursey could open his eyes again.

Opening his eyes did not reveal anything new. The night was still dark. The window was still barely holding together. The door was still dented inward, pressed uncomfortably against Nursey’s calf. No Frankenstein monster stood menacingly in the middle of the road. There was nothing.

Dimly, Nursey realized the growling had faded. His bones still itched.

“Uh,” he said.

Dex had a death grip on Nursey’s fingers. They ached. Neither of them let go.

“You okay?” Dex asked quietly after a few moments of silence had passed. He turned his head only slightly to catch Nursey’s eye, like he was afraid of moving too much or drawing too much attention to himself.

“Yeah,” Nursey said. His leg was probably scratched from the dents in the car door, but he felt mostly fine. “You?”

“Fine.”

Dex’s voice was tense. Nursey loosened his grip just enough to swipe his thumb across the back of Dex’s hand. He glanced over to see if Ray had noticed, but the mechanic was staring out the windshield with an intensity that was almost frightening to behold.

“We’re leaving,” Ray said.

His finality left no room for comment. No one argued as Ray started the truck.

For a moment Nursey wondered why he hadn’t tried starting the truck earlier, but maybe he had and Nursey hadn’t noticed. Or they had all been too panicked to think about it. He guessed it didn’t matter anymore.

The car had been empty, untouched, but Chowder was still gone. He didn’t want to think about what that meant.

He looked at Dex without speaking. Dex offered no words. They didn’t have to say anything. The worry for Chowder hung between them so thickly it was almost a wall.

 

 

 

 

_we’ll pass him we’ll pass him we’ll pass him we’ll pass him_

That was Dex’s internal mantra as they drove back to the gas station. Ray didn’t seem to notice his and Nursey’s clasped hands, and Dex couldn’t bring himself to care about being so obvious in front of a stranger.

They drove more slowly than he would have liked, but the slow pace at least allowed the headlights to illuminate the side of the road more clearly than if they sped. He kept his gaze firmly locked on the road, waiting for the back of Chowder’s hoodie to catch in the headlights. He waited for the truck to pass him, to roll to a stop, for Chowder to climb inside and say, “Where were you guys?” and explain where he’d been. He waited.

He was so focused on any sign of Chowder that he didn’t realize they were back at the gas station until they were nearly upon it.

Dex’s heart seized when he first saw the gritty, yellow fluorescent light of the shop. They hadn’t passed Chowder on the road, they had to have passed him, they hadn’t passed him, he couldn’t have made it out by himself, not with some _thing_ running around, he was still back there—

Then he saw the figure sitting on the bench.

“Fuck,” Nursey whispered, relieved. His fingers untangled themselves from Dex’s hand.

Ray parked the truck.

It took Nursey a few tries to get the door open, grunting with the extra force he had to use to unstick the warped door, but the moment the door came loose he and Dex were scrambling out of the car.

“Chowder!” They both cried, their voices echoing each other.

Chowder was standing by the time they reached him. Dex wrapped his arms around him the moment they were close enough to touch. Nursey hugged him as well, a comforting weight against Dex’s right side, and for a moment they were one big ball of _you’re okay, you’re okay, you’re okay._

When they pulled back, Dex cupped Chowder’s jaw and angled his face toward the light. There was a new scratch running across Chowder’s cheek and a smudge on his nose like he’d rubbed dirt on it, but he looked otherwise unharmed. The air left Dex’s lungs in a loud whoosh. He hadn’t realized how tense he had become until he suddenly relaxed.

The first words out of Chowder’s mouth were, “Oh, wow, what happened to the car?”

At first Dex thought he meant Nursey’s untouched car and got confused. Then he realized Chowder was referring to the tow truck. He didn’t want to tear his eyes away from Chowder’s face, but he could imagine the damage that waited behind him.

“That’s—“ Dex didn’t have an answer. He also didn’t give a shit about explaining the unexplainable at the moment. “Where have you been?”

Chowder looked at him like the answer was obvious. “I’ve been here. Where have _you_ been?”

“Getting the car,” Nursey said, as though that encompassed anything of the clusterfuck their night had been.

“Why didn’t you stay?” Dex asked. He felt much better with all three of them together, but his heart was still skipping beats to the tune of _what if, what if, what if._ “Why weren’t you with the car?”

Chowder ducked his head, embarrassed.

“I, um. Got nervous.”

Neither Dex or Nursey asked why. They both remembered the invisible thing that had all but destroyed the truck just to get to them. If that thing had been lurking around, it was no wonder why Chowder had felt uneasy. Dex didn’t let himself think about what would have happened if Chowder had stayed put, or if he had been a little less lucky in getting to the gas station.

Dex dropped Chowder’s cheeks as Nursey put a hand on Chowder’s shoulder. Maybe he and Nursey were a little eager to be touching tonight, but then maybe they all were. Chowder certainly didn’t complain. Then again, he’d always loved close proximity the most.

“You didn’t—“ Nursey stopped himself, rephrased his question. “You got here okay?”

“Yeah, why?” Chowder said. “Did you run into a wolf or something?”

There was something about his wording that struck a chord with Dex. He readjusted his stance, remembering the sickening sound of a snarl just outside the car. “A wolf?”

Chowder nodded. “Yeah, you know, wild animals and stuff? I guess they like to roam around here. Kiera said—oh, she’s the daughter of the guy that owns this place—she said that a lot of them live around here.”

Dex was just about to ask Chowder when the hell he had time to run into anybody’s daughter when somebody choked behind him, and Dex remembered they weren’t alone. He turned.

Ray looked at Chowder from under the brim of his hat, his eyes wide. He had stilled.

“My daughter?”

Dex blinked. There was something about that tone of voice that caught him off guard. It was too… something.

He noticed that at some point Ray had lowered Nursey’s car to the ground and unhooked it from the truck—a noisy endeavor that he had somehow failed to notice—but Dex kept his eye on the man instead of the machines.

“Yeah!” Chowder said. “Kiera! She was super nice and helpful! Oh, she went off to find you guys—”

“My daughter,” Ray repeated, stepping closer. He stared at Chowder. Chowder, for his part, seemed unperturbed.

“Yeah, your daughter,” Chowder agreed. Then he paused, frowning. “That’s who she said she was, anyway. Do you not have a daughter?”

Dex and Nursey shared a look. Dex moved to stand a little closer to Chowder, shifting as discreetly as possible.

Ray fumbled for the locket hanging beneath his shirt. He pulled it out and popped open the clasp, revealing the picture inside.

“Is this the girl you’re talking about?” he asked, holding the locket out with trembling fingers.

Chowder leaned forward and squinted at the tiny photo. Then he straightened. “Yeah, that’s her!”

Ray barely seemed to hear him. He turned away and stared out into the tree line. The atmosphere felt considerably lighter near the gas station than it had on the road, but Dex still avoided looking directly back down the old road they had come from. He shivered.

He had a bad feeling that this conversation was going to end with the sentence, “My daughter has been dead for seven years” thrown somewhere in there, and he honestly wasn’t up to handling that sort of thing at the moment. Not after tonight.

He pressed his hand to the small of Chowder’s back, trying not to be obvious.

“Thanks for helping us out,” he said quickly. “We really appreciate it. We can just call a cab now.”

Dex reached for his phone.

“Your car,” Ray said suddenly, seeming to come back to himself, if only slightly. “See if it works now.” When nobody moved, he said, “Go on. See if it starts.”

For a moment nobody moved. Then Chowder took the keys out of his pocket. Dex had forgotten he had those.

Nursey glanced over to Dex and Chowder, shrugged, and then took the keys from Chowder. He opened the driver’s side door and leaned in, opting not to sit down as he twisted the key in the ignition. The car roared to life.

Everybody paused.

“Woah,” Chowder said. “I thought…”

He didn’t finish his sentence, but Dex was pretty sure he knew what he was about to say.

After a moment, Nursey cut the engine. He rounded the car and came back to the group, eyebrows raised. “It says we have half a tank.”

Dex couldn’t even manage an “I told you so.” He gently pushed at his boyfriend’s back until Chowder stumbled forward half a step and shot him a look. Dex ignored him and nudged him closer to Nursey, at which point he began herding them both towards the car.

“Okay, that works out, thanks,” he blurted. “Do we need to pay you anything?” Ray, still a little dazed, shook his head. Dex didn’t question their luck. “Great, cool, I guess we’ll just be on our way then. You’ve done enough for us all ready, so we’re just going to—“

“My daughter,” Ray interrupted. It seemed like the only two words he could string together with any coherency. He was still looking at Chowder. “Did she say anything?”

The back seat door was open, but Nursey hesitated to climb in. Dex tried to telepathically urge him to keep moving. It didn’t work.

“Huh?” Chowder craned his neck, his body caught between Nursey and Dex. “We talked, if that’s what you mean?”

Ray shook his head. “Anything.”

“Oh. Um.” Chowder seemed to think about it. “When I met her, she said she was out on a walk? She asked me about, uh.” He paused, and his eyes flickered between Nursey and Dex. “Life stuff. It was kind of spooky, actually, but she didn’t seem to mind? She said her dad—you—would help us out.”

Ray looked like he needed a moment to process this information, and Dex wasn’t about to let the opportunity slide.

“If that’s all, then we should really be on our way.”

He reached around Chowder and pushed Nursey’s shoulder. Nursey shot him a look but took the hint. He climbed into the back seat and scooted all the way over to the far side. Chowder followed him.

“Thanks again,” Dex said, rushed, as he rounded the driver’s side door and slammed the door.

The keys were still in the ignition. He started the car.

 

 

 

 

They were quiet for the first few minutes after leaving Ray and the gas station behind them. Dex’s tight grip on the steering wheel noticeably didn’t relax until they had put several miles of distance between them and Ray’s shop, until more and more buildings began to crop up along the side of the road. They passed through one small town, then another, before any of them grew comfortable enough to speak.

“What the hell was that?” Nursey blurted, unable to hold it in anymore.

Chowder turned his head to look at him. Dex merely glanced at him in the rearview mirror and then back at the road, but Nursey had no doubt he was listening.

“Uh,” Chowder said, unsure. He probably had no better understanding than anyone else.

Nursey switched gears. He threw his arm across the empty seat between them and placed his palm on the back of Chowder’s neck, swiping his thumb back and forth across the exposed skin there. Chowder leaned in to the touch.

“Seriously,” Nursey said. “C, where’d you go? Who was that girl you mentioned?”

“I told you, she was his daughter,” Chowder said. His mouth twisted with concern. “Oh, man, we totally just left without saying goodbye. I didn’t even get to thank her! She went back to look for you guys because I asked her to. What if she’s still wandering around? Oh, _no_.”

“Chowder—“

“What if she gets hurt? We almost got caught walking back the first time.”

“Caught by what?” Dex quickly, startled. Nursey realized he was pressing a little too hard on the back of Chowder’s neck and eased up. He hadn’t missed that wording either.

“A wolf,” Chowder said. “I think.”

Dex looked at him in the rearview mirror. “You think?”

“It sounded like an animal. What else could it have been?”

Neither of them answered. Nursey switched topics.

“Did you see his reaction when you mentioned his daughter though?” he asked. “He didn’t expect it. He clearly hasn’t seen her in a long time.”

Dex muttered something that sounded like _That’s one way to put it,_ but he didn’t say it loud enough for Nursey to be sure. Chowder’s eyes flickered between them. He frowned but said nothing. Nursey didn’t want to let it go.

“He kept saying all that stuff about, you know. ‘Somebody I know died out here,” and ‘I don’t go out there at night.’” Nursey paused. “Do you think…”

“I _think_ ,” Dex said, looking straight ahead. “That we should look for a motel and sleep in tomorrow.”

It wasn’t a direct answer, but Nursey knew what he meant all the same. Dex was reluctant to admit it, but they were on the same page about this one.

“I don’t get it,” Chowder said. “Kiera said her and her dad have been living there for a long time. Why wouldn’t he have seen her?”

“Chris,” Nursey said, slowly. “Where’d you meet Kiera?”

“While I was trying to find you guys,” Chowder answered. “I found her instead. Actually, I guess she found me? It was pretty dark, so I didn’t see her at first, but she told me she’d take me to her dad’s place. Which she did. Then she went to find you guys.” The worry came back full force. “I hope she’s not still looking for you. I feel really bad about just leaving, guys.”

Nursey thought about the ball of light that scared away the thing outside the truck. He thought about Ray’s reaction to the mention of his daughter, how he kept her picture in a locket he couldn’t seem to go without. How Chowder hadn’t seen her at first. All the mentions of an animal attack and, _I don’t go into the woods at night._

Chowder looked at him, eyes bright. “Why?”

Nursey shook his head. If Chowder noticed the way he scooted a little closer, straining the seatbelt that stretched across his chest, he didn’t say anything.

“No reason.” He looked over at Dex. “I’m pretty sure we’re all tired. We can pull over whenever you want.”

Dex breathed out. “Okay.”

They didn’t stop until they had passed at least three more towns. The front desk booked a two-bedroom room, but they all ended up huddled in one bed anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> It's only September, but I'm eager for October and Halloween. I hope to do another spooky fic before then, but if I don't, this will have to suffice.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading! Check out my tumblr over at http://someobscurereference.tumblr.com/ I have fics I keep over there under the tags "my fic" or "sor writes" depending on the topic. Check out my links at the top of the page for more details.


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